Page 22 of A Simple Mistake
One of the loudest and most insistent, Gareth knew.And one of the most difficult to dislodge.Ever since he’d taken over as CEO, Julian had been buying back company shares from members of his family.Aidan had a knack for finding tiny weaknesses Julian could exploit, while Gareth was better at spotting opportunities that might sweeten the deals.They’d never tried to approach Cecily Nancarrow, though finding a lever to remove her was at the top of all their wish lists.
As usual, Cecily dressed as if she were heading to Buckingham Palace, ignored everyone in the room, and headed straight for her seat and the champagne the cafeteria staff had set out.The man entering the conference room on her heels wasn’t as single-minded.He crossed to Julian and held out a hand.
“Julian, yes?I’m Harper.Thank you for the invite.”
Julian shook hands.“Glad you could make it.This is Gareth Flynn, our corporate security chief.”
“Mr Flynn.”
Harper Nancarrow resembled Julian in build but little else.He was blond where Julian was dark, and his grey eyes sat in a web of tiny creases.His firm handshake and friendly, open smile were a bonus.“Good afternoon, and welcome to the funhouse,” Gareth said.
“Honestly, I’m pleased to get out of my office.I’ve had enough market upheavals for a month.”
“You’re a trader?”
“Commodities broker.Metals, minerals, the odd bit of coal.”He sent Julian a sheepish grin.“I’m hoping I can be useful.It’s why I held on to my father’s shares and accepted your invite to the meeting.”
“Fresh insights are always valuable, and welcome.”Aidan stepped around Harper and held out a hand.“Aidan Conrad, legal counsel.”
They shook hands and started talking while Roland Nancarrow hurried in and claimed his seat beside Cecily.Gareth exchanged Aidan and Harper’s company for a chance to chat with Alex.“How are you?I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“Fieldwork,” Alex told him.“I went to check on the project list.Unfortunately, I found nothing interesting going on bar a few backhanders.”
Before Gareth could comment, Julian tapped the table.“We’ll wait one more minute and then—”
“Donovan won’t be coming,” Cecily interrupted and picked up a second glass of champagne.
“Thank you for conveying his apologies.”
Julian kept his face blank.He sounded almost bored, but Gareth knew he was anything but.When his uncle had tried to take over Nancarrow Mining, hoping to find Julian distracted by his grandfather’s heart surgery, Julian had cut ties with his extended family.Gareth understood that.Why Julian continued to put up with his cousins and their attitudes, though… that had so far eluded him.Were it up to him, he’d have kicked the entire bunch of leeches to the kerb a long time ago.
He watched the three Nancarrows while Julian opened the slide deck and began his presentation, spinning through data that should be familiar to all around the table from the shareholders’ report.
“How come the company’s financial position has worsened over the last three months, Julian?”Cecily Nancarrow asked in her querulous tone, as if Julian hadn’t just spent twenty minutes explaining it.
“As I mentioned, increasing costs are stretching our cash reserve.”Julian flipped to the next slide in his presentation without even glancing her way.“The costs of environmental impact assessments have increased by seventeen per cent over the last year.Mining to closure provisions are up by eleven per cent.”
“What have you done to save costs?Do we need,” Cecily counted, “eight different environmental assessments?”
Gareth itched to roll his eyes, impressed that Julian refrained.“Actually, we do.We’re fortunate the law only requires eight.If we developed a find in the UK or in Australia, we’d have a raft of additional ones.”
“Ludicrous.”
“Hardly.Besides, you don’t expect us to break the law, do you?”
“As if you would.”Cecily turned the page and skimmed the text.She was looking for something else to query, like a mean, ratty little dog with a bone.Shame the bone she chose to gnaw on was Julian.
“What do you mean, fourteen projects now have active competition?Shouldn’t project information be confidential?”
“Do you have a problem with security?”Roland jumped in right after.
“We’re working to establish that.”Gareth was happy to draw their fire for a while, especially when, from the corner of his eye, he saw Jack’s fingers begin a rapid dance over his tablet.“There’s a point in every project, of course, when confidentiality ceases.”He gave the two Nancarrows his best bland smile.“It’s possible we’d reached that point.”
“But you don’t know for certain.”
“No.”
“That is—”
